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Two Bodies Essay

Below is an essay on "Two Bodies" from Anti Essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples.

Two Bodies
In the poem "Two Bodies" written by Octavio Paz, it describes human relationships between two people. Human relations are affected in many ways such as family traditions, where they live, or their culture. Forced to live in exile in Los Angeles because of his political views, he fought in the Spanish Civil War. He later became a career diplomat and served as the Mexican ambassador to several countries. Alienation became his main topic of in his writings. Octavio Paz uses metaphor to describe the different aspects of the relationship. Each aspect of the relationship is associated by different parts of the universe.
Paz describes human relationships in which they are in peace and harmony. Like the waves of an ocean, they move closer and closer until they clash, creating an interference. "Two bodies face to face are at times two waves and night is an ocean," (Page 561). The metaphor states that two people are coming closer and closer to each other, creating peace and love. There are two types of interferances: constructive and destructive. Constructive interference occurs when two identical waves collide, creating two additional waves. On the other hand, destructive interference occurs when two waves collide, but cancels each other out. It is the same with human relationships. When two people meet, it can be about love or the opposite. This statement ,"at times," implies that it does not always happen. When two people meet, it does not always become in harmony, causing hatred.
In the second stanza, Paz describes human relationships that are physically together. People sometimes love one another because of their physical appearances. "Two bodies face to face are at times two stones and night a desert," (Page 561). Stones can come in any forms or shapes, but never perfect. In a human perspective, humans are different in appearances and in the way they act. Paz states, "at times," to show that it is not always the case that physical appearance will...